In the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, flat panel displays and the like, there is known a processing system including a plurality of single wafer processing sections for processing a workpiece (such as wafer and glass substrate) one by one. There is also known a processing system including a mounting section (buffer section) provided between a storage section for storing workpieces and a plurality of processing sections, a first transport section for transporting a workpiece between the storage section and the mounting section, and a second transport section for transporting a workpiece between the plurality of processing sections and the mounting section (see, e.g., Patent Document 1).
In order to reduce the waiting time of the first transport section and the second transport section, there is proposed a processing system in which the first transport section and the second transport section can independently perform a receiving operation or a passing operation on the mounting section (see, e.g., Patent Document 2).
The processing system described in Patent Document 2 includes one region for storing predetermined unprocessed substrates, and one region for storing processed substrates. In each region, the holding section is used sequentially from the bottom to receive or pass a workpiece.
Thus, a waiting time occurs in one of the first transport section and the second transport section.